About Jason Guo
Jason Guo has spent 30 years in engineering and technical work, a large part of it on active construction sites rather than at a desk. That work has included both contributing to and leading field projects, where the gap between a specification on paper and what actually holds up outdoors becomes obvious quickly.
On this site that background shows up as a bias toward showing the arithmetic. Product listings in this category routinely mix cut size with finished size, quote a thickness where a mass belongs, and describe fabric with words a buyer cannot check. The calculators here publish their assumptions and worked examples so you can verify a result instead of trusting a label.
Background
- 30 years of professional experience in engineering and technical roles.
- Has participated in and led on-site construction and field engineering projects.
- Hands-on familiarity with how materials and equipment are protected, covered, and staged in real site conditions.
- Builds and maintains the calculators on this site; their worked examples are covered by automated tests that run on every change.
- Writes and reviews the guides published here against the tarp.tools editorial policy.
What we publish
tarp.tools maintains 29 guides and seven calculators covering cover sizing, fabric specifications, and material selection for US readers. The calculators are built in-house; the arithmetic behind them is covered by automated tests that run on every change, using worked examples published on the tool pages so you can check our results against your own.
How we work
We separate three things that are often blurred together in this category. Geometry and unit conversion are exact, and we treat them that way — conversions use NIST definitions and we state them openly. Product specifications vary by manufacturer, so we give ranges and say where the variation comes from. Safety decisions belong to whoever can inspect the actual load, roof, or site, and we mark that boundary rather than writing past it.
We do not accept payment for coverage, run affiliate links, or take sponsored placements in guides. When a product category is a poor fit for a job, we say so, including when the honest answer is that a tarp is the wrong tool entirely.
Corrections
If you find a calculation error, an unclear assumption, or a statement we have not supported, email support@tarp.tools with the page URL and the specific problem. Material corrections are dated on the affected page. Reader-reported errors are the fastest way this site gets more accurate.